Jesus' Gifts To His Bride

     I was planning to write about inner stillness (how to live in it and keep it and why it's so important), but I will do that next week because I have a "promise to keep." I've told several people that I would write out a little teaching I do about Jesus' gifts to His Church (Ephesians 4:11-13), so here goes.
    I am not writing everything I would like to say about this, but just a few highlights about how I think the five gifts are meant to function. Please note that I am much indebted to many others, especially in the house/simple church world for what I have learned.
     The first thing we notice about these gifts are that they are gifts to God's people, not people who receive gifts from God's people. I'll just let that one sit there and let you reflect on its many implications.  
     But how do apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers equip (repair to prepare) God's people for ministry, intimacy with Him, unity with one another and life in the fullness of Christ? May I gently suggest the following.
     The first and most obvious function of these people gifts relates to their own personal ministry. Apostles are sent-out servants (slaves) who prepare for their Master's coming by making disciples and sharing the Good News; Prophets build up, encourage and comfort God's people through revelation gifts; Evangelists announce the Gospel of the King; Pastors care for God's people with compassion and skill; teachers enable people to understand and experience God's nature and character as revealed in His Word.
     A second way these gifts function by helping discover and develop others who are called to be gifts in the same way: apostles identify and develop apostles, prophets identify and develop prophets, etc.
     But there's a third way these gifts function that I want to concentrate on because it's the one that seems freshest when I share it. So how do these five gifts function in the "repair and prepare" role? Consider the following.
     Apostles "equip the saints" by training them 

• to be Sent in their own spheres of influence according to their uniqueness.
• to Serve others. A true apostle is marked by how well s/he serves others. Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 4:5, "We do not proclaim ourselves; we proclaim Jesus Christ as Lord and ourselves as your slaves for Jesus' sake." (NRSV)
• to Suffer well. Paul seems to list suffering as one of the primary marks of apostleship. See his list of struggles and how he thrived in them in 2 Corinthians 4:7-18!
• to do miraculous Signs as part of the proclamation of the Gospel of the Kingdom. Every believer can and should make the miraculous part of their presentation of the Gospel to folks (Mark 16:17--18), and they are equipped in this by apostles (Paul stated that signs and wonders are part of what marks an apostle as an apostle (2 Corinthians 12:12).

    Prophets "equip the saints" by training them 

• to hear God well, by helping them learn how God speaks to them (see, sense, hear, know, nudge, etc.). Prophecy is far more about hearing that talking, as you know. 
• And New Testament prophets also teach God's people how to strengthen, encourage and comfort others (1 Corinthians 14:3). 

Evangelists "equip the saints" by training them 

• to share the Good News in a way that is natural to them in their own spheres of influence. There is no cookie cutter approach to evangelism, and a true evangelist will help the quiet, behind-the-scenes persons share their faith in a way that fits them just as much as bolder and more vocal people. 

Pastors "equip the saints" by teaching them 

• how to "shepherd" their families
• how to care without creating dependence
• how to care for others with compassion and consistency
• You get the picture, I think!

Teachers  "equip the saints" by training them 

• to learn! This is one of the more important corrections I want to make. People tend to think that a person is a "good teacher" if they are eloquent, easy to follow and understand, etc. But that kind of person is simply a good talker unless s/he also teaches others how to learn on their own. A good teacher is marked less by eloquence and more by extreme passion for others to learn, An excellent teacher is marked most of all by a noticeable orientation towards others even more than towards truth. (Think about it and you will get it! Jesus was the best Teacher ever--Truth flowed from Him continually--but He was marked above all else by love and compassion.).

Just a few thoughts for you to consider. What do you think? 

Tom, one of Abba's little children 

The Embrace Precedes and Supports the Empowering

     I have been thinking of lot lately about how grace works in our lives. Since so many have written about grace and even more will do so in the future, I am not sure what I can add, but one thing that I think is absolutely essential to our spiritual growth and health is understanding how the grace that embraces us must come before and also always support grace that empowers us. What do I mean?

     I mean that the growing trust in God's power to change us as we "put to death the deeds of the body by the Spirit" (Romans 8:13) must always be rooted in our absolute assurance that we are God's dearly loved sons and daughters. And this assurance must be based not upon our behavior but upon God's choice to love us unconditionally. Papa's embrace is what releases Papa's power in my life because Papa's embrace is what invites me to trust Him and His power to lead and change me by His Spirit. It is by "grace through faith" that we grow, and faith rests upon our assurance that God is for us and will always be for us because we are His dear children, not because of how well we behave (the scandal of grace). 

     Perhaps I should illustrate how this works, at least in my life. I have discovered that if I am nervous about God's affection for me, if I am convinced that His embrace is conditional, then I find my ability to trust His Spirit to lead and empower me is greatly hindered. I think this happens because of the distraction away from Father that my focus on behavior creates, but I am not sure. What I am sure of is that living as if I cannot displease Him nor change His good intentions for me no matter what releases a level of trust in me that has led to remarkable transformation in my life and the lives of others who live confident of His embrace. 

     "But wait!" you say, "this sounds to good to be true. And it sounds dangerous! If we remove behavior from how we relate to God, people will stay the way they are." It is more likely that this is too good not to be true, and too true not to be good. :-) And as for people staying the way they are, my experience has revealed just the opposite: It's the people who focus on their behavior rather than on Papa's love who are most stunted in their growth. Think about it, and you can discern why this is so, methinks.

     This is not to suggest that how we behave is not important, of course. Behavior is important, dear ones, not because it affects Father's love for us but because it affects the quality of our lives/relationships and the fulfillment of our destiny. Paul makes it clear in Galatians--the book of grace--that planting to the flesh results in a deadly harvest whereas planting to the Spirit results in a life-giving harvest. The fruit of the Spirit is definitely to be preferred to the works of the flesh! But it's the focus that I am addressing here. Focus on behavior rather than living loved and listening shifts our trust from God to self and stops the flow of His life-changing power.

     So it is that I will choose to live in His embrace, fully convinced that nothing can hinder His embrace, certainly not any behavioral checklist. And there in the center of His embrace, I will listen and trust and obey. And as I do, deep change becomes inevitable (albeit not always quick or easy!). It is my trusting, love response to Papa's unwavering love for me that releases His power to overcome, to win, to grow, to persevere, to....

     Trusting that this is somewhat clear. If not, please let me know!

Embraced and empowered.

Tom, one of Abba's treasured children

Lessons from the "Feary Furnace"

     "Whenever I am afraid, I will trust in You. In God (I will praise His word), In God I have put my trust; I will not fear." Psalm 56:3-4 (NKJV).
     Charlie and I have been in a battle of late for healing of annoyingly persistent pain in her right hip and leg. In the process of seeking both divine and medical solutions our journey to a (thankfully temporary) trip through an oncologist's office (she is fine, and it was just part of the process of eliminating causes for her pain). 
     Any of you who have been reading this blog for very long will know that our adversary the devil used the specter of the C word to cast us (especially me) into the furnace of fear (the "feary" furnace). But rather than allowing us/me to be defeated by fear, Papa used this season to teach me some new things about overcoming fear. Much of this is still in the formative stage for me, but I promised my intercessors that I would share a little of what I am learning, so here goes.

• The battle is for our minds and hearts, and it's a battle centered around the character of God. From humanity's first temptation to this very day, the enemy's tactic has always been to attack God's character in order to cause us to doubt His goodness. I have known this for a long time, I guess, but this latest battle has caused this truth to become crystal clear. The thoughts of doubt and fear that the adversary tried to plant in my mind were clearly based on the premise that God is not truly good and likes to use bad things to bless us! God's answer especially to Charlie and me this time was to remind us over and over of what Matthew 7:11 and similar passages say: that He is totally good and never causes or needs bad things to accomplish His will, even though He will use those things when they come our way. There is far more that I am learning in this area, both about the battle for the mind and the absolute goodness of God, but that's for another day.
• The devil never fights fair, and he won't back off without a fight. We know this, of course, but there's always been something in me that forgets this. But remembering these truths helps to keep me from being surprised or overwhelmed at the force of his wickedness when it comes against us. It also reminds me that there's a reason why we are told to "resist" (take an unyielding stand against) the devil! Hoping he will "be nice" and "play fair" only leads to discouragement. Our hope must be in God's goodness, love and power, not in some notion that our adversary will grow weary or back off all by himself. I don't mean for this to sound gloomy--life can be very good at times, of course, and it has been and is for my family and me. But if an attack comes, I will fight the battle best if I remember how our adversary works.
• God's answer to our fears is both comfort and "command." This is the biggest new one for me, I think. I have written previously about Psalm 56:3 (do a search on it and you will find those entries). Papa showed me how that verse tells us that we can always collapse onto Him when we are afraid. That truth alone carried me a long way in the painful journey of 2009-2010. But in this season I am seeing very clearly what God says about fear: When He speaks about fear to us there is not only encouragement but also an instruction to choose not to yield to it.  There is a choice we make, empowered by His Spirit, to turn away from fear, to choose not to feed it, to resist it by strategic collapse into God's goodness. I am sure I have known this at some level before--after all, most of the times in Scripture where God says, "Don't be afraid" it really is a command. But I am taking this command more seriously theses days, realizing that "where God guides, He provides, when He commands, He empowers." Specifically in this latest journey this has meant obeying His many instructions not to feed my fear by allowing my mind to run to "what if" or by doing "research," or listening to the wrong input. Taking my thoughts captive has taken on a whole new meaning, of late, as I have learned to listen very carefully to Papa, to trust His speaking and my ability to hear Him and to choose not to whine (whining is music to the devil's ears!). We have a choice as to with whom we will agree when fears and troubles assail us, and agreeing with our fears, with our adversary only empowers them. Hence God's gracious command says: "Don't be afraid!" (or as it often reads: "don't go on being afraid," "don't go on yielding to fear.").
• Listening to God is absolutely essential. This is obvious from the paragraph above, but the absolute necessity of listening, listening, listening to Papa's stream of communication (battle instructions) has taken on new clarity for Charlie and me.
• Fear and faith are not opposites. I have written about this before, but I close today with a reminder about this. Fear is an emotion, faith is a decision based upon our growing experience and understanding of God's goodness and power.  Psalm 56:3-4 shows us this clearly, I think. David starts by collapsing onto God when the emotion of fear comes his way, then he chooses to transfer his trust from himself with his limited perception of things to God, who knows all things and who is unwaveringly good and trustworthy. (Fear can also, of course, be a demonic spirit, and the attack by such a spirit can be vicious and persistent, but God's answer can and will rise up within us as we remember that He, the Infinite One, lives inside us.)

       That's it for today. The battle for Charlie's healing continues, so the furnace is still burning around us at times, but I share these lessons in the hope that they may give you courage and encouragement. God is for us--and that means more to me than ever. May it be so for you as well.

Kept by His power,

Tom, one of His children

Redigging Old Wells

     Some of you know that I have been thinking about writing a book for some time. I want to gather your input regarding this, dear readers. I plan to start with something fairly easy: a collection of some of my better blog entries. My question for you concerns what topics should I extract and publish first? Any of you who know me well, know that my passion is intimacy with God, grounded in His grace and infinite love for us. But I have also written a lot about the nature and state of the church, about making disciples, about the journey through grief and more. So I am asking for your input and welcome your thoughts and suggestions. 

     Today, for my blog I want to redig an old well, posting something I wrote quite a while back (see if you can find it). I have been going back and editing older entries in preparation for publishing the blog book, and as I worked on this one I realized that some of you probably haven't seen my earlier entries. I thought this one was good enough to share again. My apologies to any of you who have journeyed with me from the beginning :-)

A Few Thoughts on Becoming Like Jesus

     The Lord has repeatedly directed my attention to Psalm 44:3 lately: "It was not by their sword that they won the land, nor did their arm bring them victory; it was your right hand, your arm, and the light of your face, for you loved them." (NIV) When I pondered why He was leading me to this passage so frequently, I realized it was because the Father wants me to "be like Jesus." Let me explain...

     Most followers of Jesus learn fairly quickly that our destiny is to become more and more like Jesus. Romans 8:29 says that becoming like Him is our God-determined purpose; see also Matthew 10:25, 1 Corinthians 11:1, Philippians 2:5 ff., 2 Corinthians 3:18, etc.
     Now before we go further, please remember that any transformation in our lives as believers happens because of God’s work in us and our trusting response to Him, not our own effort! We don’t become like Jesus by applying His teachings or by trying to copy His example, rather we allow Him by His Spirit to live His life in and through us. As we surrender to His guidance and trust in His power we are changed. It is a simple, childlike way to live that replaces human effort with childlike trust and dependence and surrender to the One who loves us most.
     So, having established “the how,” what does it mean to “become like Jesus?”
     Most Christians answer that question by suggesting that we are supposed to become like Jesus in terms of His character (loving, compassionate, kind, etc., Galatians 5:22-23 comes to mind), and that's certainly true. But my conviction is that there are many other ways in which we are to become like Jesus. A few that stand out are "doing what Jesus did" (signs and wonders, see John 14:12), living in close community like Jesus did ("All men will know that you are my disciples by your healthy relationships--John 13:34-35), discipling like Jesus did (by example, demonstration, leading to discovery, and occasionally by words!), living in faith like Jesus did, and the list could go on.
     But there is one way that we are to be like Jesus that is more important than all the others because it is the foundation of everything else. Can you guess what it is? It is to have the same kind of intimate, love relationship with Father God that Jesus did. If we are to become like Jesus and "do what Jesus did," we must first learn how to live in the Father's love as Jesus did. In fact, this is the core of “the how” that I talked about above—you cannot become like Jesus apart from learning to “live loved” like Jesus.
     We know that Jesus did nothing apart from the Father and that He lived a life of total obedience and dependence upon the Father (see John 5:17-30), but do we really understand how He lived such a submitted, obedient life? It was because of the intimacy He enjoyed with His Abba. From the time Jesus was a little child He knew God as His Abba, and what He knew most of all was Abba's love for Him.
     The love relationship between Jesus and His Father was passionate beyond comprehension, and I am convinced that Jesus' love for His Father was so perfect and complete that, more than anything else, it is what moved Him to perfect obedience and trust. And Jesus' love was in response to His Father's love for and delight in Him. It is no accident that the Father said, "You are my Son; I love you and I delight in You," before Jesus had done any ministry! (Ponder that one for a while and you will understand why it's so important for you to have the same relationship with Abba that Jesus did! Can you hear Him affirming you apart from what you do?).
     In addition to John 5, we see this intimate relationship with Abba in Jesus' life throughout all of the Gospels. Two places that always capture my attention are Mark 1:35-39 and Luke 5:15-16. Both of these passages show Jesus in the midst of extremely successful ministry. In the first passage, Jesus leaves very successful ministry behind after spending time with the Father (how many of us could do that?!!!). In the second passage, in the midst of the crowds and success it says of Jesus, (literal translation): "But Jesus was withdrawing to lonely places and praying." Most translations don't catch the meaning here, rendering this into something like "But He would often withdraw" but that's not what it says here: it says that in the midst of crowds all around Him, Jesus was (always/continually) withdrawing and praying. Think about this and you will catch the huge implications of what it means for us!
     You see, I believe that Jesus lived His life looking at the Father's face! He saw what the Father was doing (John 5:19), not because He was watching the Father to see what to do but because He loved His Father and couldn't help but gaze at Him! And it was His overwhelming love for His Father that motivated everything He did and enabled Him to trust Father God completely. And in my opinion, there is no other way to be like Jesus than to enter into this same kind of awesome, intimate love relationship with Abba.
     Too idealistic, you say? Perhaps you should read what David wrote in Psalm 27:4 (look it up). Perhaps you should consider a proper translation of 2 Corinthians 3:18. The NRSV gets in right: "And all of us, with unveiled faces, seeing the glory of the Lord as though reflected in a mirror, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another; for this comes from the Lord, the Spirit." The background of this passage is Moses' request to see the glory of the Lord in Exodus 33-34. You see, David and Moses were consumed with a love for God that drew them to a place of simply wanting to gaze upon His beauty (and His beauty includes His love for us/you).
     Want to be like Jesus? You can't! Not unless you first enter wholeheartedly into the Father's love. Romans 5:5 says that the Holy Spirit pours Abba's love into our hearts in an experiential way. My prayer is that as you read this, He will do that very thing for you in such as way that you can see "the light of His face."

Tom, one of Abba's children

I look forward to hearing your thoughts about a book! Thanks!

Those Who Walk With the King as Kings and Queens

     The movie rendition of Prince Caspian really grieved me because Peter is such a jerk at times. The writers of the script brought him down to the current level of poor character that is typical for our generation, almost completely obliterating the noble character of Peter in the original book.

     The thing that is most wrong about this, I think, is that it so misses the point of C.S. Lewis’ stories: those who "company" with Aslan are deeply changed, and that would be especially true of those who walk with him for an extended period of time as kings and queens. Yes, Lewis himself writes of Susan’s later abandonment of some of the Narnian principles, but not in the way portrayed by those who rewrote the Caspian story. One of the main points of the Narnia Chronicles is the nobility of character of those who learn to walk as Kings and Queens with Aslan, the King of Kings.

     And I have seen that nobility in some of Jesus’ joint-heirs, those who will reign with Him and who walk with Him now as a Royal Priesthood. I know some of His royal brothers and sisters who live as He lived: confident but humble, richly generous and benevolent, noble of character and outlook, patient with the weak and gracious with the broken. They are in all walks of life, from the simple and weak to the powerful and highly sophisticated. Like their King, they don’t draw attention to themselves, but they are not uncomfortable with greatness should it come their way because they recognize where true greatness comes from. Like their King, an air of peace, concern for others and nobility emanates from them like the fragrance of a heavenly rose.

     I think specifically of kings and queens of whom I once read who died with dignity in experimental gas chambers in the prisons of North Korea, people who were at peace even as they sought to protect their children who died with them. I think of a friend’s meeting of humble, self-effacing Chinese men who were powerful overseers of millions of underground house church believers. I think of a quiet but courageous woman who has faithfully poured out love to the children in the poorest neighborhood in Las Vegas for many, many years. I think of a businessman who leads with grace and kindness as God has prospered him beyond anything he ever dreamed—I think of how he carries himself with quiet humility, freely giving away large sums as God leads without anyone knowing. I think of Nick, now in Heaven, who was one of the humblest and meekest of men I have ever met. He quietly served our family business as janitor and had a quiet but rock solid faith in Jesus. I think of his gentleness and meekness and realize now, years later, that he also carried the mark of a King, a nobility of character and grace. I think of a humble, but courageous man in Papua New Guinea who has raised the dead but speaks of it with joyful meekness. And I think of many more royal souls, some of them loud and outgoing, some of them quiet and almost invisible. My life is rich with many kings and queens who have companied with the King of Kings.

     And it is this last thing, I think, that is the common thread in all of their lives and the reason that nobility hangs on them like a heavenly robe. Whereas some people may settle for a “get-out-of-hell free” ticket, for these remarkable souls “companying with their King” is the pulsating center of their lives. And in hanging out with their King, the fragrance of their King somehow permeates their lives. Make it so in me, in all of us, my King!

Hanging out with Royalty,

Tom, one of Abba's children

The Grace of Parenting

     God has blessed me with two amazing sons. Jon and Josh are remarkable men of God, wonderful husbands, patient and wise fathers and capable men and ministers. It is truly by the grace of God (and a good partner in parenting) that this is so, but a recent coaching conversation resulted in me committing to write down some of the key principles that God in His grace provided my wife and me for parenting. I am still reflecting on some of these, but perhaps they will help some of you (parents and/or grandparents) discover some fresh grace for parenting.
     "Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger by the way you treat them. Rather, bring them up (nurture them) with the discipline and instruction that comes from the Lord." (Ephesians 6:4 NLT). I didn't realize until I started making this list how much this verse has influenced my parenting over the years. See if you can see the many ways it influenced me (starting with the fact that Paul placed upon fathers the primary responsibility for parenting!). The principles are below. None of them were practiced to perfection--more than once my parenting flowed more from fear than principle--but there was a consistency that God graced us with, and it seems to have been what God wanted.

• Absolute commitment to living God-centered lives in every context. Maybe it was some bias in me, or more likely it was a gift from Papa, but there was never any question in my life that we would "practice what we preached" and that God would indeed be the center of our lives, as evidenced by our actions and not just our words. It didn't take me long after Jon's birth to realize that he was watching (and soon imitating) my every move, and from that realization a fresh commitment arose in me to live with the Jesus life with integrity. More than once my sons saw me on my knees asking for their forgiveness (or asking their mom for the same), and we tried to be consistent in modeling everything related to healthy relationships and the fruit of the Spirit. (Again, not with perfection but with growing consistency).
• Intentional prioritization of parenting. Jettie and I viewed raising our children as a sacred trust and the most important thing in our lives, something that eclipsed all other goals and destinies. I had seen far too many children marginalized in the name of "serving God" to want to go down that path, so I made sure my sons knew they were valued above my personal ambitions even while they learned to make room for Daddy's sometimes busy life. One of the many ways I lived this out was to have "Daddy time" with my sons every single night I was home. Every night we would go back to the master bedroom, lay on the bed and read a story (The Chronicles of Narnia stories were favorites), talk about life and things and then pray. That practice continued even through college days for Jon until we finally moved away from him!
• Discipline that began early set clear boundaries for them that enabled us to start coaching them early on. Danny Silk's book, Loving Our Kids on Purpose, does a better job of describing the coaching process and purpose for it, so I recommend you get it and read it! The early use of clear boundaries, lovingly but firmly enforced seems to have made room for instruction, mentoring and coaching.
• United parenting. Jettie and I were united in our approach to parenting. Our sons never had a sense of division between Jettie or me, so they were never confused nor were they tempted to try to play one of us against the other. This is probably more important than I realized at the time.
• Living responsively more than reactively. My experience with my own dad wasn't always positive, but early on Papa God made it clear that it would be counter-productive to raise my sons in reaction to what my dad did or didn't do. Instead, I chose to listen a lot to Papa for how to live proactively and positively, endeavoring to encourage my sons, spend time with my sons, listen to my sons, etc. 
• Listening to God and obeying Him quickly helped more than I can describe. One early incident comes to mind. I had come home from a tense church meeting (yes, those do exist!) and the boys (very young) were being rowdy or something. I exploded in anger at them almost as soon as I entered the door, striking the wall with hand hard enough to hurt myself. My sons were surprised and terrified. Immediately God spoke to me and asked me, "Do you remember that look? Do you want to pass that along to them?" My repentance was instant and deep and lasting. There were also many times of just sitting with Papa and listening (usually after worrying a while and trying to figure things out on my own!). I cannot tell you how many times God was faithful to give wisdom that could not be gained through human effort. 

     I am sure that I will think of other things later, but these are some of the big rocks, I think. Please, please note, too, that all along the journey Papa was healing me up so that I could live the Jesus life from a place of increasing wholeness. If you are terribly broken and trying to parent, you need to pursue healing and nurturing from a loving community of believers.

     Did these things work? Josh wrote a tribute to me several years ago which is too glowing for me to include, but one of his closing lines drills me to the heart and describes for me what the Grace of Parenting looks like: "From God's hand this man received the Christ-like heart that he needed, and though at the time he did not know it, his boys, on that large island, met God in him." (Thanks, son!)

Marveling at God's grace,

Tom, one of Abba's little boys

p.s. Wayne Jacobsen's last two blogs are amazing! Check them out here.

God-colored Glasses

     I was struck this week by how often I read the Bible through me-colored glasses rather than God-colored ones. I noticed in me this persistent tendency to read everything in terms of something for me to do (a principle to apply, an action to take, a promise to claim, etc.).    
    The passage I was reading when this epiphany hit me is one that is familiar to many: Matthew 6:24-34 ("Don't worry, seek first the Kingdom," etc.). As I was reflecting on Jesus' words it dawned on me that in reading this passage in terms of something for me to do I was almost entirely missing what Jesus was saying. His purpose in this passage (and in much of the Sermon on the Mount) is to reveal the Father. The things He tells His hearers to "do" are in response to the revelation of how amazing, loving and caring Father God is!
    Perhaps I can illustrate this by looking at a few verses from Matthew 6. Look at verses 1-4 where Jesus tells His hearers to be careful about doing "acts of righteousness" in a way that avoids drawing attention to oneself. But how many of us get stuck on the behavior here instead of the reason behind it: We have a gracious and generous Father who will reward us far better than any human could ever do. 
     And Jesus continues this "Father focus" in the rest of His teaching here. In teaching about prayer and fasting (verses 5-18), He reveals a Father who rewards us, who knows (and cares deeply about) our needs before we even ask Him, whose Kingdom and will are infinitely important, who will grant us daily provision and lead us away from temptation, who is unseen but rewards us openly, etc. 
     Jesus continues His Father focus throughout the rest of chapter 6. We have a Father who offers eternal, imperishable treasure that He reserves in Heaven, who is willing to care for our physical needs in generous ways so that we can be free from worry, and who adds all that we need to our lives as we choose to make Him and His righteous Kingdom our focus.
     I trust you get my point here. What would it be like to read familiar passages of Scripture with God-colored glasses on? My sense is that the stunningly powerful vision of our loving Father would make the actions described in the passage a grateful and natural response rather than a list of to dos. But more than that, it will pull us into such deepening intimacy with Father that we finally grasp that it's all about relationship.
     Just thinking. Why don't you join me in trying this out? I, for one, am choosing to take off my me-focused glasses now and asking Papa to capture my heart with increasing revelation of who He is.

Lost in His love and glad of it,

Tom, one of His little children